I found a dead trout floating in the pond yesterday. I was really surprised, as I thought they were all gone two months ago. From it's state of decomposition I would guess 2 to 3 days old. However, I am wondering if it is possible that it died a month or two ago and it sank to the bottom, then surfaced. Seems like the turtles would have at least dove down and pulled it up. Could it have stayed that well preserved if the pond's bottom wasn't oxygenated?
Certainly cold water slows down decomposition. However sometimes a trout will find a cold spot and almost shut down it's metabolic needs and try and tuff it out. So perhaps the fish just couldn't hang in there any longer? At least that is what one biologist told me. I was told that lake trout of all species are good at this.
That said, although it is an inanimate object, I recently retrieved a net that had been laying on the bottom for at least 5 years when I drained the big pond. It's in better shape than the same net I've been using.
